By J. E. KUYPER
November 10, 2011 North West Herald
For 20 years as a custom home builder, Patrick A. Finn has not flinched from doing things in a big way.
This year is no different as he submitted seven entries for Key Awards from the Home Builders Association of Greater Chicago.
The awards are announced at an annual banquet which, this year, is Nov. 16 at European Crystal Banquets in Arlington Heights.
A custom house with 2,650 square feet of living space was built by Patrick A. Finn of Palatine. It is competing for a Key Award from the Home Builders Association of Greater Chicago.
This is Finn’s first shot at the Key Awards. “I never entered before and had minimal contact with the HBAGC. I was invited by one of the board directors to take a look and I thought they had a lot of good projects and so I thought I should get involved.”
Each year, Rita Unzner of McHenry has the task of organizing the Key Awards on behalf of the HBAGC.
Builders in the Chicago area enter projects they think are worthy of recognition in various categories such as architectural design, single-family homes, multi-family homes, and custom homes for sale, remodeling/conversion, interior merchandising, and clubhouse/lobbies, green building and historic remodeling.
A group of judges visits the projects and scores them. The higher the score, the better the award, which include bronze, silver, gold and a limited number of crystals.
This year is slightly different from past Key Awards events. “Of the 85 entries for awards, we have 15 entries for the Crystal Key and that is a high for us,” Unzner said. The HBAGC has been presenting awards for 39 years.
“Usually a very limited number of Crystal Key awards are conferred, but this year is different. We have some unusual and very good entries. The Crystal Key represents a special level of achievement that awards innovation and creativity,” Unzner said as she prepared for this month’s HBAGC banquet.
Besides several somewhat minor category entries, Finn also has two new houses entered for consideration in custom construction categories.
Custom built-in bookcases and storage units are common in houses built by Patrick A. Finn.
They are custom houses already built and sold to customers in Arlington Heights. Finn is based in Palatine but 80 percent of his business is in Arlington Heights.
“We have two new houses that are up for Key Awards and both are in the $200 per square foot price range,” Finn said.
“The bigger one is 2,650 square feet in size on a 50-foot-by-125-foot lot. It is a two story, three bedroom, two bath (also a powder room) with an attached three- car garage. There is a full basement with provisions made for an elevator, in the future, to be installed from the (partially finished) basement to the second floor.”
The house has three porches, cherry cabinets and granite countertops in the kitchen, a stone backsplash, butler’s pantry, hardwoods and tile, and three upstairs bedrooms.
The owners, who are in their mid-40s, moved into their new house this month. “They originally contacted us seven years ago, but they could not go forwards as the man had lost his job,” Finn said.
The couple’s economic fortunes improved. “So they contacted us 18 months ago and wanted to see if it was feasible to knock their old house down and build a new one. The bones of the old house, which was 800 square feet in size with no basement , was not worth keeping.”
Finn did the demolition, design and custom construction of the new home. “They moved in this past weekend,” he said in mid-October.
The house with 2,650 sq. ft. of living space built by Patrick A. Finn includes custom cabinetry in the kitchen as well as hardwood floors and granite countertops. Custom Wood Products of St. Mary, KN, provided the cabinets.
Patrick A. Finn designed a great room with fireplace for the buyer of a 2,300 square foot home in Arlington Heights.
The second house entered in the Key Awards has 2,300 square feet of living space. The two-story on a 60-foot-by-132-foot lot has a stucco exterior, partial basement, a porch in front with a pergola planned, three bedrooms, two full baths and a powder room. The two-and-a-half car attached garage is a front-loader.
“This was an in-fill project for an older retired couple who winter in Arizona,” Finn said. “It was a bare lot and unlike the first house, there was nothing to tear down.
”House amenities include a four-seasons room or solarium, cherry cabinetry in the kitchen with an island that looks out to the vaulted family room with a fireplace. “Since it is an older couple, it has a first-floor master suite with the other two bedrooms on the second floor,” Finn added.
He is proud of his five other Key Awards entries, too. “Besides our two new houses, our entries include a lovely kitchen in Mount Prospect and a lovely master bathroom in Palatine. We also did a remodel in Palatine, expanding an original 1,200-square-foot house into 3,000-square-feet for a family of two.”
Finn said that between remodels and new construction he does 12 to 15 projects annually. “These are basically in the Northwest suburbs with 80 percent of them in Arlington Heights.
“It is our goal to exceed your expectations with our craftsmanship, attention to detail and personalized professional service. We believe that a custom home should not only accommodate your lifestyle, but should reflect your personality. Our goal is to provide you with a beautiful environment that you will be proud to call home.”
Finn’s two decades of building experience includes Lincoln Park and Hyde Park in Chicago to Arlington Heights, Barrington, Park Ridge and other northwest suburbs. “We have built, renovated and remodeled more than 350 homes,” he said. “We are dedicated to quality craftsmanship and design
A solarium looks out over the backyard in a custom house built by Patrick A. Finn of Palatine.
using only the finest materials. Our experienced team can provide you with anything from a custom new dream home to beautiful custom kitchens and bathroom remodeling, attic remodeling and more!”
For information, call (847) 358-4133 or visit www.patrickafinn.com. The first consultation is free.
“These Key Awards recognize exceptional work in the Chicago area home building industry. It has long been considered one of the most prestigious annual awards programs for housing excellence,” Unzner said.
Pickell Designers and Builders, Great Rooms Designers and Builders, Cesario Custom Homes, Oakley Home Builders, Hibernian Development, Highlander’s Heritage Homes, Sage Botanic Media, Montreux Custom Homes, Patrick A. Finn LTD, Battaglia Homes, Meyer Homes, Weiss Building & Development, Provencal Construction, Beechen & Dill Homes, Feragon Architects and Riordan Signature Homes. Several of these builders have a history or currently are involved in projects in McHenry and Kane counties, including Horton, Lexington, Riordan and Weiss.
The following article was featured in the Daily Herald Homes Plus Section as a Builder Profile on Sunday, January 17, 2010. Hard Work, fair prices allow Irish immigrant to succeed
Patrick Finn, president of Patrick A. Fin Ltd. of Arlington Heights, believes in karma. In other words, if you do good things, you will reap the benefits. If you do bad things, it will catch up with you eventually.
"We strive to treat others as we want to be treated and we are very big on integrity," the 42-year-old Irish immigrant explained.
"There is a Japanese word - kaizen - which means continuous self-improvement, and that is the philosophy under which we work," he continued. "We are always trying to better ourselves when it comes to how we do business.
"Even in a down economy, what people really want is to not be taken advantage of," Finn said. "Some of our competitors bid low and then nickel and dime their customers to death for various things. We guarantee our process upfront, unless the client makes changes. So our initial price for remodeling projects may be 3 (percent) to 5 percent higher than others, but in the end, the price guarantee saves our customers much more than that.
"We say that we are selling value, not price," he said.
Finn began his new construction and remodeling business in 1991, a scant four years after immigrating to Chicago from Killarney Ireland, by way of London.
"There were no jobs in Ireland then, so instead of going to college, I went to London where I learned the carpentry trade," he said.
But his plan all along, he admitted, was to eventually go to the United States.
"When I was 8, my grandfather took me to see the Atlantic Ocean, had me dip my fingers in it and then told me on the other side of that water was America. He had been there in the 1920s and he always had glorious storied to tell about America; so that is when I decided I had to go to America, too," Finn said.
He made his way to Chicago in 1987 and immediately got a job framing houses in the South suburbs.
"My aim was to learn as much as I could in as short a period of time as I could, so that within five years I could be working for myself," Finn said. "I felt that if I was going to move 4,000 miles from my family, it had better be for a good reason."
Next he took a job working on high-rises downtown including the Sheraton Hotel and Northwestern Memorial Hospital's parking garage. By 1990 he was building bridges on the Kennedy Expressway reconstruction.
In the fall of 1991 he ventured on his own with a carpentry contracting firm, remodeling low-income inner-city properties. Within 18 months he was acting as general contractor on multiple projects in Hyde Park, Lincoln Park and the North Shore.
He and his wife were living in Arlington Heights and conducting the business out of their home, but "no one knew us out here because we were working in the city and elsewhere, six days a week."
It wasn't until the couple needed to put a second floor addition on their own home to accommodate their growing family in 1996 that people in Arlington Heights knew of Patrick A. Finn Ltd. And he has been kept busy building and remodeling in the Northwest suburbs ever since, doing 90 percent of his work in Arlington Heights.
What is your dream house?
"I am already living in my dream location - a white colonial home with a red door on a five acre lot with room for horses inBarrington Hills."
Some day when we retire, however, Finn said he would like to live near the ocean in Belize or a South American country.
What is your favorite home amenity?
"Radiant heated floors, particularly in the bathroom."
"We have our own carpenters who do the framing and trim work and then subcontractors who do the other work. This allows us to maintain control of the job.
"Having her on staff helps take the stress out of remodeling for both the homeowners and for me. She has been a godsend."
His Buyers:
Finn primarily caters to growing families who like their neighborhoods and want to continue to live in them, but need more space.
Consequently, most of Finn's customers are in their later 30s or early 40s. But another sizable contingent is made up of empty-nesters who are downsizing to smaller homes, but want to fix those homes up to meet their dreams.
What's the best part of being a builder?
"I love the challenge and interaction with the clients. The more complex the problem, the better I like to solve it. I love to help people solve problems that they just can't envision a solution for.
"The wow factor at the end when the homeowner sees the finished product is stunning for me."
Finn said he also enjoys employing immigrants like himself who need a helping hand in a new country.
"I like to educate them and give them a future," the father of three admitted.
"When I was coming up through the ranks, everyone pushed me down and made me want to try all the harder. Now that I am an employer, I try to help those coming behind me because I believe in humanity.
What are the biggest changes you have seen in the business?
"The American psyche is resetting. They have gone back to the mindset that a house doesn't have to be bigger - just better. That is a nice thing."
Some towns are now limited the size of the homes they permit to be built. Finn is also fond of the green movement, which encourages energy consciousness and stricter codes.
Future Plans:
Finn expects his company will continue to grow, despite the current economic downturn. In fact, Finn said 2009 was a good year for the company (2008 was its low point).
"We are insulated in Chicago from the big swings they experience on the coasts and from the rust belt in Cleveland and Detroit. This is a resilient area and that is one of the reasons I came here when I immigrated."
Emerald Cities Homebuilders across the suburbs adopt ways to be more ‘green’
By Sherry Giewald
Daily Herald: Homes Section
Friday February 25, 2011
The following is an excerpt from the above article highlighting an interview with Patrick.
…While some people choose to remain in their homes and invest money in remodeling or upgrading their home’s features, remodelers say they don’t see a lot of interest in green from their clients. People are asking a lot of questions about it, but it generally costs more. So even though they’re interested, they don’t follow through because of costs, said Patrick A. Finn, owner of Patrick A. Finn, LTD. in Palatine.
“We ask people how long they’re planning to be in their house because it takes a little longer to recoup their costs. If they’re going to remain in the house for five years or longer, it’s easier for them to buy into the green idea.
It’s becoming more main stream, Finn said. “Maybe 10 percent of people believe in it and are going to do it. We see some people who will do it no matter what. They like the bamboo flooring, which is pretty popular now, and recycling materials on countertops and insulation products.”
Although the company tells clients about the green products so they can make an informed decision, it tries to give customers what they want, Finn said.
“Remodeling usually costs more than originally anticipated, so if something has to go, it’s the green.”
For Finn, some of the green is just good construction practice that they’ve been using for years – high efficiency furnace, insulation, good quality windows and doors and plumbing fixtures, he said.
“They’re called green because of low energy consumption, but they’ve been around for years….
The following article was published in the May 29th, 2009 issue of the Chicago Tribune, in the Chicago Homes division of Section 6.
The Value of Good Design
Finn educated clients on proportion and livability over size
By Leslie Mann (Special to the Tribune)
Borrowing a line from the perennial Syms apparel stores commercial, Patrick Finn says, “An educated consumer is my best customer.” This segment of the home-buying market is more interested in quality than quantity.
“If they haven’t already read Sarah Susanka’s ‘Not So Big House’ book, we give them a copy because it says it all,” explains Finn, president of Patrick A. Finn Ltd. in Palatine. “Lots of square feet doesn’t give you a better house. Good design, proportion and livability do.”
Finn recounts unabashedly how he evolved from the “son of a dirt-poor farmer” in Ireland to an American home builder. When he applied for a college scholarship for an engineering degree in Ireland, the school’s counselor told him his future would be brighter if he moved to the U.S. He made a pit stop in England, where he worked construction by day and earned a City & Guilds diploma in construction by night. Then, at age 20, he landed in Chicago’s Southwest Side where he became a house framer.
A few years later, Finn launched his design/build company, “with no business plan or money but a lot of bravery and ambition,” he says. “I love this country, where you really can live the American dream.” It didn’t take him long to find his niche – building custom houses and doing whole house and partial remodels of older ones.
Every client begins by meeting with Finn and his in-house designer, Madison Sommerfield. They review the client’s needs, wants and budget, then develop a 3-D digital model. In addition to giving the client a virtual tour of the proposed floor plan, the model allows the client to determine where to place his large pieces of furniture, such as beds and buffets.
As construction proceeds, the company’s project manager; Greg Bowling, meets weekly with the client to answer questions and review changes. “Our clients are busy people, strapped for time,” says Finn. “But the meeting saves lots of chasing each other down. We want both the husband and wife to be there so there are no surprises.”
For clients who want some guidance, Sommerfield accompanies them to vendors to help them choose products, finishes and colors. It is Somerfield’s job to keep up-to-date with green products and incorporated as many as possible into the design. “Some clients just want energy-efficient products such as extra insulation, tankless water heaters, but others want green finishes, too, such as bamboo flooring and recycled glass countertops,” she says.
Typically, their clients want fewer formal spaces such a living and dining rooms and more informal spaces such as kitchens and great rooms. They want master bedrooms that double as sanctuaries for mom and dad, mudrooms with plenty of room for their childrens’ and pet's paraphernalia and second-floor laundry rooms.
Finn’s job roster includes 12-15 remodels and three new houses a year. His clients are mostly from the northwest and northern suburbs. Some Finn projects have been featured on HGTV.
The Finn staff of eight includes Patrick’s wife, Karen, who oversees the marketing. Staff contractors do the demolition, carpentry, plus tile, floor window and door installation. They subcontract plumbing, electrical, concrete, HVAC and roofing.
Sundays are family days for Finn, when he retreats to the Barrington Hills home he shares with Karen, their three children, four horses, and a collie who herds anything that moves.
By reading self-help books by authors ranging from Dale Carnegie to Eliyahu Goldratt, and belonging to professional organizations including Vistage, Finn says he strives to be a lifelong learner. “There’s a Japanese word, ‘kaizen,’ that means continuous self-improvement,” he says. “That’s what I’m all about.”
In the last few years, a greater percentage of Finn’s projects are remodels of houses in older; close-to-town neighborhoods. “These neighborhoods are more appreciated now,” says Finn. “You can walk to town and to schools. Not every house looks the same and often the property taxes are lower than in newer neighborhoods.”
These houses, says Finn allow homeowners the best of both worlds: “new-house features, but with old neighborhood charm.”
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